


Hiding the Ashes

by Minouki61



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Arcadia - Freeform, Blood and Violence, Burns, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Lumeray Campaign, Magic, Magical Accidents, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 04:44:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15878808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minouki61/pseuds/Minouki61
Summary: The story behind a young wizard's motivations for adventure. Contains the before and the during, the after is soon to come.





	1. The Telegram

**Author's Note:**

> This is my d&d character's backstory!! Posted mostly for the DM to see and enjoy, but also because I wanna see what other people think.

She was only about 13 when that telegram came.

In the small town of Arcadia, everyone likes to believe that telegrams could be good things, like a notice that someone is coming home from the war, but all know that it is just a letter of a loved one’s death, delivered by some poor sap who didn’t make it into the military and has to deal with their recipient crying all over them.

Leah wasn’t at home when her mother got the telegram of her father’s death, but was actually just down the street, on her way home from the market, a basket full of various vegetables, herbs and meats propped on the hip of her plain brown dress and cream coloured apron.

She saw the town’s postman, Jerry was his name, hand a small envelope to her mother with trembling hands. Leah felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she started to pick up her pace towards the house, the neighbours whispering their cruel gossip as she passes by.

You could see her mother’s face pale a few shades whiter when she grabbed that envelope that was far too small to be a proper letter from anyone in town, and could only be one of those blasted telegrams from the war. She didn’t even open it, but she did spot Leah further down the street, as she turned back into the house and bid Jerry farewell in what was assumed to be a clipped tone.

Leah started running towards the house, passing Jerry on the way, his fists clenched at his sides and his gaze downcast. She couldn’t tell if he was trembling or not, its not easy being the person who delivers the telegrams of someone’s death all the time. Slamming the door open with one hand, she saw her mother curled in a heap on the floor, crying silently with that envelope clutched to her chest. Leah put the basket down and stepped carefully over to her mother, gently tugging the letter from her mother's grasp.

Leah carefully split open the wax seal, reading the short paper. Indeed, it was a telegram notifying the household of the death of Leah's father, with no details and only the promise that all of his belongings would be delivered within the year and a small sum payed to the family.

Within a few moments, tears were streaming down her face, too. With great resolve, she steeled herself, sniffling through her tears. Leah padded back over to the front door and closed it, picked up the basket and walked over to their kitchen, stepping carefully over her mother.

This was only the beginning, the first great tradegy.


	2. Aeshan and The Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the telegram and a short bit about Aeshan, her father's close friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aeshan is pronounced Ay-shawn.  
> This chapter is a flavourful way of describing some of Leah's inventory I suppose?????

For about a year after that, until her mother recovered, Leah took care of her and the household. She would clean the house, cook the food, and help her mother with even the most basic tasks like bathing and moving from place to place within the house. The first few weeks were rough, with her mother in a catatonic state, and hardly even able to speak.

Two months after the envelope arrived, another man showed up at our door, this time bearing a box and an urn. He revealed himself to be the close friend of Leah’s father, and fellow warmage, Aeshan. He had ashen blonde hair and even lighter skin, and now-dulled amber eyes. He wore his hair long and in a braid behind his head, and silver spectacles sat on his nose. A notable development since the last time Leah saw Aeshan, was that he was sporting a cane and a false leg on his left side, from just above the knee.

The box Aeshan brought contained Leah’s father’s belongings that they were able to recover.

Leah accepted the box and invited Aeshan in for tea, since he spoke of having walked a great deal to the house and since Leah thought it would be good for her mother to talk to someone who was also close to her husband. Aeshan also told of him becoming the town librarian/book keeper, since not many visited and he would not have to move to much with his false leg, plus he could summon books from taller shelves using spells instead of climbing a ladder.

After her mother and Aeshan were settled with some cups and the teapot, Leah excused herself and went to her room with the box and laid it on her bed. With trembling hands, she undid the twine tying it closed and lifted the lid. Lying on top of everything was a letter she had written to her father wishing him well (to which she never got a reply). Rereading the letter, she noticed the soft weathered edges and folds, as if it had been opened and read over and over, countless times.

Setting it aside carefully, she examined the rest of the contents. A sum total of 2 spell books, 3 sets of book holsters (black, brown, and warmage white), his wand, his marriage ring, a pocket watch, a dagger and sheath, and all of his earnings in a simple leather pouch were in the box.

After taking everything out of the box, she placed it all back in save for a few items; the pocket watch was wound and placed within her dress pocket, the letter was put on her bedside table, the ring strung on a cord of leather and placed around her neck and tucked into the front of her dress.

With that, she tucked the box under her bed, wiped her face of any stray tears, and headed back out to be the perfect daughter.


	3. Of Boredom and Academics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It starts to get serious (as if it wasn't already).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes are at the end this time - to avoid spoilers hahah!

When Leah’s mother recovered and was able to take care of herself, Leah went back to school (or the equivalent thing at that time). She would spend a large portion of her time learning and studying, because she didn’t want her mother worrying about her grades slipping but also to serve as a distraction from the absence of her father.

As a result, Leah gradually spent most of her time at the local library where Aeshan works. (This ties into the Sage: researcher background, and the researcher feat; When you attempt to learn or recall a piece of lore, if you do not know that information, you often know where and from whom you can obtain it.)

After a year or so, regular academics became too boring and plain for her so she started to study the arcane arts. First it started as a light study of theory - in secret, seeing as her mother was very sensitive to the topic of magic being brought up in the house. The more Leah studied magic, the harder it was to hide from both her mother and from Aeshan. Eventually, Aeshan noticed the number of magical books Leah was tearing through and offered to teach her a bit about the arcane arts, while keeping it a secret from her mother as well.

Aeshan did this because he feels a sort of survivor’s guilt that his friend and fellow warmage with a family died in battle and he survived, so the least he can do is help his friend’s daughter learn about magic safely and help her avoid being hurt by spell magic.

It started as small, simple spells, like Prestidigitation and Light, but as with most things, Leah got bored. So Aeshan gave Leah an empty new leather bound notebook as a birthday gift when she turned 15, for her to fill with spells and notes.

Her mother saw it as Aeshan giving her a journal for her to fill.

 

Around this time, Leah’s mother was of the opinion that she was ready to marry, and started to set up dates with the young men of the town. Leah hated it but did it for her mother because she loved her mom and didn’t want to upset her. This involved lots of awkward flirting from the suitor's side and much more delicate avoidance on Leah's part; some of the young men also doing it to appease their mothers, but some being absolutely awful and downright creepy, demanding Leah to act more affectionate on the first meeting.

Also around this time, the people from the war that the town of Arcadia received were coming back with worse and worse injuries. The majority of the people received were corpses, or nearly there.

The type of injuries that survivors from both sides had were getting more cruel, more vicious. While this town on the border of the war saw all manner of injuries, the healers were unused to such horrific things. They saw things like severe dehydration in survivors; the dead were completely dry (from Abi-Dalzim’s horrid wilting), corpses with eyes completely whited over and the flesh of their cheeks eroded away with teeth poking through and ribs jutting out sharply beneath the skin, streaks of hair turned bright white to match their eyes and a grey crackly lightning pattern reaching down from their necks (finger of death), survivors horribly blinded with sunburn-like burns streaking down from their forehead in fine lines mirroring a summoning circle pattern (sunbeam), any many other horrific things.

These were some of the days where the whole town, regardless of political views or age, came together to care for these soldiers and warmages because there were just. 

So.

Many.

It was on one of these days that Leah had had enough of all this war crap. So she started to research spells, to see what she could cast to force everyone to stop fighting. Many late nights were spent at the library, researching what magic would be the most effective. She looked through her father’s spell book and found the perfect spell: conjure elemental.

It didn’t seem too hard, looking at the spell. She just needed to collect some casting materials and something to cast with… her father’s wand seemed fitting if she were to use his spell book as well.

With her extensive knowledge on spells and spellcasting, as well as with her persistence in the craft, casting the spell wasn’t too hard. She actually managed to cast it and maintain it a few times before the incident, each time the spell lasted just a little longer.

But.

Not all things like this last. And Leah did get caught.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and those to come, this whole story really, is heavily inspired by some fantastic art on Tumblr about the scars one may obtain from spellcasting in D&D! Check them out yo~ https://filibusterfrog.tumblr.com/  
> The one referenced in this chapter are the following: Finger of death https://filibusterfrog.tumblr.com/post/175420785743/7th-lv-spell-scars-dms-please-abuse-your-power Sunbeam https://filibusterfrog.tumblr.com/post/174676820193/6th-level-spell-scars-ooeeeigghhh-cantrip-scars Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting https://filibusterfrog.tumblr.com/post/176145275843/8th-lv-spell-scars-just-to-clear-up-any
> 
> Also! Aeshan also has scars from the war; specifically a nasty Aganazzar’s Scorcher. The worst of it is on his right collarbone, creeping up his neck and face. https://filibusterfrog.tumblr.com/post/173878641063/level-2-spell-scars-have-fun-when-you-suffer


	4. The Ashes of The Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's where it all pretty much goes down and sets up the rest of her future. CW for graphic depictions of burning and being burned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOooooooo Aeshannnnnnnnnn! But seriously - do not read if you cannot handle graphic depictions of burns. I wrote it in such a way that imo it's one step removed from straight up pictures of burns. Hokay?  
> Enjoooyyyyyyyy the biggest chapter of this backstory~

The day of this incident started like any other; get up, do chores, evade her mother and her questions about marrying some nice boy, go to the market to buy produce and other things for the house, and then head to the library.

Once she got to the library, she would grab a book, just any random one off the shelf that she hadn’t read yet, and wait until Aeshan left her to her reading and went to do errands or something. This is when she would carefully retrieve her things (spell book, wand, casting materials) hidden behind some larger books on one of the lowest shelves and begin.

She was excited this time; if she could successfully conjure a fire elemental and keep it steady for over an hour, she would be ready to go out to the battlefield. First she took one of the larger candles from the library and placed it on the floor. Then she surrounded the candle with her materials, and sat down about 10 feet away with the spell book open to the page in her lap, wand at the ready. With great concentration, she cast the spell. The small sputtering flame of the candle became long and thin, reaching almost two feet in length, but the most interesting change is that the flame turned black. Then, two fiery hands clawed through the thin flame, stretching it apart. Pulling itself out, the fire elemental in all of its flamed glory stood before Leah, and crouched into a bow.

Now came the hard part, commanding it to do things. To be honest, Leah found that the commands to do things weren’t hard, the challenge was to be able to have the elemental execute a command without causing excessive damage. She would have the elemental practice with potted plants and other small things, moving the objects from place to place. This time, however, something unexpected happened.

Aeshan walked in.

“Leah? What the hell are you doing?” he yelled.

She turned around with a gasp, breaking her concentration.

All hell broke loose, and Leah panicked; she knew she had lost concentration and knew what that meant – the fire elemental was no longer under her control and was now hostile towards her, and probably Aeshan too!

She sat there, frozen in fear as the elemental turned towards her and started to run.

“Get out of here Leah, before it hurts you!” Aeshan yelled from the entrance of the library, sprinting over as fast as he could with a false leg, glasses slipping down his nose and braided hair whipping about behind him.

Snapping out of her state, she began to crawl backwards away from the elemental, glancing over at Aeshan in time to see him trip over a loose floorboard; the spell in his hand fizzling out. She looks back at the elemental, now looming over her, it’s arm raised to attack.

With an unearthly screech that sounds like a dragon’s fire breath, the elemental shoots a burst of bright white flame towards Leah. Seeing the incoming fire and unable to move fast enough, she raises her arms and ducks her head to avoid the majority of the damage. 

With a small yell tearing its way through her lips, the flame hits her raised arms, burning easily through the sleeves of the mundane dress she’s wearing with such an impact that her arms are knocked to the side but continue to burn through her flesh, turning angry and red.

Being satisfied for now of its attack, the elemental turns away from Leah and starts to stomp its way towards Aeshan (leaving a huge trail of fire behind it wherever it touches the flammable wooden flooring) who is now back on his feet.

With a burst of light blue energy, a devastatingly sharp shard of ice flies towards the fire creature, piercing its throat, and exploding, sending small chunks of burning ice flying in all directions. The elemental’s head disappears and Aeshan takes this opportunity to rush over to Leah, who is cradling her arms against her chest. Once Aeshan gets relatively close, he kneels down and approaches slowly to avoid scaring her further, placing a hand on her shoulder and murmuring an incantation for Mage Armor.

“We’ve got to get out of here, before the whole place burns down.” Aeshan says hurriedly but quietly. All he gets in response is the barest of nods. He glances at the elemental, who is still flailing around headless.

He looks back at Leah, to see her leveling him with a gaze of determination. Suddenly, she lunges for the spellbook and her wand, opening it to a random page, and flings three magic missiles spiraling through the air. All three make impact with the fire beast, it stumbling backward with each hit.

The elemental crouches down briefly, and stands again with its head back, and looks furious. It begins to sprint towards the pair of them, dragging its hand along the shelves of books on the way, effectively setting everything on fire.

Aeshan grabs Leah’s wrist, and drags her to a standing position.

The pair begin to run away from the elemental, Leah trailing behind Aeshan. Too quick to react, a wave of heat followed by an intense burning sensation hits Leah’s back and she falls, gasping from the pain and the breath being knocked out of her. 

Aeshan turns and quickly shoots another shard of ice at the elemental, this time hitting the left side of its abdomen, and exploding again. He then bends down and lifts Leah over his shoulder in a sort of fireman’s carry, and continues to run towards the library’s exit.

Another ball of flame approaches the pair quickly as the near the exit, this time missing and exploding right beside the doorway, still ajar from Aeshan’s entrance earlier. This time however, this ball is closely followed by a second, which still misses but singes some of the hair on Aeshan’s head.

“That was way too close” Aeshan huffs, now just outside of the library door, Leah still struggling for breath. “Sorry,” he starts, “this is going to hurt.” Aeshan drops her unceremoniously and in the same heartbeat with practiced focus and speed, sends a frigid globe of cold energy streaking through the air and into the library. By the time Leah lands on her back with a scream, the library just.

Explodes. 

A burst of bright white light followed by a wave of bitingly cold air sweeps by the two of them, closely followed by the sound of glass shattering and wood splintering as the walls of the library bow outwards before breaking and collapsing, debris flying everywhere. With most of the walls gone, for a split second Aeshan can see the fire elemental now frozen in a statue, mouth open like it was howling, before the entire roof of the library falls. With the immediate danger over, and pages from destroyed books fluttering in the air, Aeshan turns towards Leah, who’s now sat up and looking in horror at the library. 

“Are you okay?” Aeshan asks, looking concernedly at the burns on her arms and back.

“I.. I’m fine. It hurts, like a lot, but I think I’ll be okay. Thanks for saving me, Aeshan.” she replies.

“Of course. Do you think you can stand?” he inquires, looking around, “We need to get out of here before too many people come asking questions.” There’s a small crowd of about 10 people looking shocked at the now exploded library.

Leah nods and begins to push herself up, Aeshan leaning down and assisting by putting one arm underneath her arms and his other hand pushing her up by her elbow, being careful not to touch the burns on her arms and back. 

Once the pair successfully stand up, the hobble away quickly towards Leah's house - not too far from the library, not sparing a single glance to the mess of a building left behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spells in this chapter: Ice Knife, Otiluke's Freezing Sphere, Magic Missile and of course, Conjure Elemental.


End file.
